Uh oh, Charlie Brown seems to be missing his tree!

One of the really nice things about living out in the country at Christmas (at least where we live) is that you can go out your back door and cut down your own Christmas tree, thus saving $30 some odd dollars on a tree that was cut in another state a week ago and shipped to a tree stand where it sat for another week before you bought it and brought it home to decorate. Although there is something to be said for taking a drive to the mountains to tromp through the snow on an expedition for the perfect conifer (although I think you have to have a permit for that now), it is so much easier to just walk out your back door with a flashlight and a chainsaw (bad combination?) and cut a tree down by flashlight in the rain.

The downside is that the tree has not been pruned ever so the branches are few and pretty weak. My friend Michelle stopped by yesterday and proclaimed it "Charlie Brown's tree." I'll admit it is a bit sparse and limp, but I still think it's the best darn tree we've ever had! The worst thing about it is that we have to hang all our ornaments on the top three branches because otherwise they will fall victim to either Wendall or Quinn. Four very nice ornaments, in fact, gave their lives to the cause during the decoration festivities.

Decorating was not the idyllic scene I had imagined. I was feeling particularly humbugish and did not take the news of the ornaments' demise very well. But nevertheless, the tree got decorated and we all managed to escape with our lives. But just barely. (oops, Connor just brought me another broken ornament, bringing the count to 4)




It was really fun to see Quinn's face light up as I plugged in the string of lights and they began to twinkle. I know Christmas morning is going to be really fun. I love Christmas morning in the toddler and preschool years. But if that is to happen, I better get crackin' cuz I have not nearly finished my Christmas shopping. And if you have been talking to me and keeping score...I also have not yet begun any Christmas baking.

But I think we will make cutting down a tree from our property a new Metzger family tradition. We can find some naturally sprouting trees and prune them each year a little until they are big enough for our Christmas liking. It might even be a good homeschooling project for the kids and it would be fun to watch our trees grow. And this way we can prune them just enough, not over prune them like the ones in the stands, which just don't look natural to me. This year's tree looks pretty just the way it is. I don't think it looks wonky at all; it looks natural and graceful tome, but we will need some stronger branches.

"Oh tannenbaum, oh tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine blatter!"